Miller was in the Garden Tuesday night for Game 2 of the New York Knicks-Indiana Pacers series, calling the game for TNT and Lee took the time to have some fun at Miller’s expense.

Courtesy of The Post’s Marc Berman:

The deadline for Knicks owner James Dolan to exercise the option on team president Donnie Walsh’s final contractual year passed yesterday without a move, meaning the Knicks president likely is in store for a spanking-new contract extension instead, likely two years. His only concern was regaining control as No. 1 decision-maker of basketball operations, believing too many voices were in Dolan’s ear, even outside the organization. The Post has learned that, beyond Isiah Thomas’ informal conversations with the owner, celebrity superfan Spike Lee also had Dolan’s ear and lobbied hard for the Knicks to keep rookie Landry Fields out of the Carmelo Anthony trade.

If true, good news, obviously. Walsh is the man who raised the sails, lifted the anchor, and pointed the Knicks ship in the right direction when he took over a few years ago. Granted his draft picks have been borderline brutal, but Walsh’s precise incisions into cap space were swift, necessary, and intelligent. Extending him for two more years is huge as the Knicks enter another league shifting free agency period next summer. Walsh is a master at manipulating the cap and has shown what his expertise can do. I, for one, am a huge fan.

What I most like about this article is the Spike Lee influence. Not saying that’s definitely fact but how ridiculous and comical is it if it were? It’s like Jack giving input on L.A.’s decision to trade Bynum or Penny Marshall telling the Clippers they’ve gotta get rid of Baron Davis because his beard’s too loud. Not sure how Spike manages to keep Landry Fields, but then again nothing Dolan does will surprise me.

There are positives though as I wrote in Tuesday’s post.  Beside the fact that a loss to Orlando could’ve provoked more sky-is-falling screaming from the media & fans, there are two other good things:

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Chris Paul would love to come to NYC to play with Amar'e & Melo plus hang at the Garden with people like rapper Common (source: Yardbarker.com)

Amar’e Stoudemire passed on the info that at Carmelo Anthony’s wedding this past weekend, Chris Paul made a toast that he and ‘Melo would team-up with Amar’e on the Knicks to form their own Big Three. The NY Post humorously reports:

Attendee Spike Lee nearly passed out at the suggestion.

Could it actually happen? Well… (more…)

Rival executives will continue to try to convince the Hornets to make Chris Paul available in trades, pointing to the fact that Williams can simply slide the promising Darren Collison and his modest $1.4 million salary into that spot. When those teams get shot down, look for the Hornets — based on the hints we’ve received from more than one exec — to make Collison available as long as the interested party is willing to take back the cap-clogging contract of Emeka Okafor,James Posey or Peja Stojakovic with Paul’s backup.

Everyone’s talkin’ ’bout Tony Parker as a trade target, how’s about the much cheaper Darren Collison with Okafor thrown in as center?  Particularly since New Orleans wants to cut costs they’d be interested in Eddy Curry, unlike San Antonio.  We’d still be able to sign two max free agents, or one and keep David Lee with money left over.

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Note Bender's proper defensive form while attempting a block: 1. Swing up and from behind, not down and from above. 2. Aim for the wrist instead of the ball. Lastly, most importantly: 3. Try not to look directly at the play as the ugliness of it could hurt your eyes. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Jonathan Bender, a phenom drafted by Indiana straight outta high school, initially retired at a young age due to injuries.  This year, still only 29, the seven-footer decided to make a comeback on the Knicks for GM Donnie Walsh who had drafted him for the Pacers.  With our team mired in mediocrity, it seemed an intriguing possibility.

Bender came out in his first couple of games with energy, looking like a potential find.  It soon became clear though that he could not bring it consistently, nor was he willing to do Big Man work.  Tellingly, despite being the height of a center, ESPN lists him as a Small Forward.  His career rebounding high is 3.1.  Sure, that season he only played slightly over 21 minutes, but still double that to an outrageous 42 minutes and we’re still talking only 6.2 boards.  Meaning if he did get decent 30+ minutes, even in his prime he would’ve given you like 5+ boards.  For comparison sake, the 5’8″ Nate Robinson has averaged nearly 3 boards in 24 minutes during his career.  Hmmm…

Okay, okay, but this is the Knicks, where we don’t care about defense and rebounding, we care about offense, right?   (more…)

Should the Knicks keep their one 7-footer who rebounded and played defense? Yes. Will they? Now that's where the question gets tough. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Going alphabetically, our first look at potential returnees is late-season addition Earl Barron.  During his short stint here in New York, Le Barron averaged an impressive double-double with 11 rebounds and 11.7 points.  For a big man his field goal percentage was a disappointing 44.1%, likely due to his preference to shoot from the 10-15 foot range rather than post up by the basket.  However, as his rebounds show, it’s not like he went all Rasheed Wallace on us and drifted out from the paint.  No, Barron wasn’t afraid to go down low to fight for a loose ball, but he also wasn’t that comfortable going back up in a crowd with it either.

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(source: ESPN's "30 On 30")

Last night, ESPN premiered it’s most recent installation in their “30 on 30″ documentary series (inspired & led by Bill Simmons, it’s a look at 30 lesser-known stories from these past 30 years that ESPN has been in existence).  Even for a Knick fan, the Reggie Miller-centric documentary was funny, nostalgic, informative, and moving.  There’s something intriguing and different about a doc that looks back at something you lived through as opposed to introducing you to a new world you knew nothing about (although obviously for many people the doc will fall into the latter category).

First, at the time, New Yorkers (and probably most NBA fans in general) thought of Reggie Miller as the ultimate villain.  Michael Jordan was the guy who you wanted to defeat, but Reggie was the guy who you wanted to see get in an “unfortunate” car accident.  It wasn’t about what he did to the Knicks, it was about who he was and how he played.  He talked smack non-stop, played dirty, and would fake & flop to try to get non-existent calls.  And by dirty, I don’t mean physical, ‘cuz you were allowed to play darn physical at the time.  By dirty, I mean doing things when the refs weren’t looking.  Swingin’ them pointy elbows for sneak attacks whenever possible (by the way, there is no truth to the rumor that he rubbed his elbows with sandpaper to get them particularly sharp).  Read what his own sister, Cheryl, says about him in the doc:

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Move over James Cameron! The Pacers try to go for 3 Ds against Patrick Ewing in 1995. (source: ESPN's "30 On 30")

The 30 On 30 series will be premiering the Reggie Miller/Knicks documentary tonight at 9 (Eastern time) on ESPN.  If you miss it, it’ll be on ESPN2 a few hours later, and well, at all sorts of hours and channels forever afterward.  It looks pretty darn good, and for you young fans who’ve gotten used to seeing your Knicks always lose — don’t worry, the winning time refers to Indiana not New York. As they describe it on the film’s site:

Reggie Miller gave New York the finger. The whole city.

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